Spanoulis leads Olympiacos past CSKA Moscow

(Foto: Ciamillo & Castoria)

Vassilis Spanoulis continued his run of Final Four heroics by scoring 11 fourth-quarter points to lead Olympiacos Piraeus back from a 9-point deficit with four minutes remaining for a 68-70 victory over CSKA Moscow in the first semifinal at the 2015 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four on Friday night at Barclaycard Center in Madrid. Spanoulis was the Final Four MVP in both 2012 and 2013 as he led his team to the title by beating CSKA in either the title game or the semifinal. To win their third crown in four seasons, Olympiacos will need to beat the winner of the second semifinal between Real Madrid and Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul in Sunday’s final. Spanoulis missed his first 11 shots of the game and had a performance index rating of minus-4 entering the fourth quarter. He finished with 13 points, 3 assists and 3 steals. Georgios Printezis paced the Olympiacos attack with 14 points and 8 rebounds, Kostas Sloukas added 10 points and Ioannis Papapetrou made a biog impact with 9 points off the bench. Nando De Colo paced CSKA’s attack with 18 points, while Sasha Kaun scored 11 and Aaron Jackson and Sonny Weems each scored 9. Jackson also set a Final Four record with 7 steals.